Are canoes allowed on LB, fishing yesterday evening, myself and another angler had been getting the odd tap and bite and in his case landing a fish, i lost 1 to a broken hook, but following a canoe coming up river around 20:00 not another touch between us. To be fair the canoeist did go slowly and carefully but should he have been there, could well have been coincidence but the bites stopped once he had gone through.

as far as i was aware the stretch at lower benyons in considered non-navigable so canoes and boats should not be on it. if someone who knows more on this can confirm if i'm right in that belief it would be appreciated (del, alan?)

not a lot you can do if they do pop up in your swim though, except politely tell them where to go...

The short answer is;Lower Benyons from the weir downstream to where it rejoins the canalised section at Theale river is most defenatly NON-NAVIGABLE. That means no boats, dingies, rubber rings surf boards etc etc without the landowners permission. All of which I have seen!!

As is the very top of Lower Benyons red section, Upper Benyons, Padworth Mill, beat 3b, beat 2 weir pool, the arrow head at Calcot and Whistley mill.

The long answer........well there's not enough hours in the day!!! ...lol

I was fishing that evening aswell, on the swim left ofthe path where the trees come all the way across to form a 'wall of snag'. (If you fish the water you will know where I mean!)Heard a almightly crash as the bloke smashed his way through the trees. I reeled in both rods and stood gobsmacked. Got a grunt of appreciation, but not what id hoped.Im was far too polite to question him but next time hes getting he rule book thrown at him.

Ps. Im new to the forum and club. Stop for a chat if you see me. (young lad with his mrs reading a book alongside him)

likewise, now i know i will politely point out the rules to any stray boaters i see, thankfully its not a common occurance up to now although i did meet around 15 kayakers last year, again they were very polite and tried to minimise their passage, if thats possible with a flotilla.

The canoeists usually go through the canal section above the weir at LB, then drop into the river after the lock at the top of Theale section, Perhaps he fancied a bit of whitewater canoeing in the weirpool Thankfully it don,t happen that often